Rabbit's epic healing thread ;-) (feel free to ignore)

[alpinerabbit]

Hmmm.

things have been going so-so, running steadily anything between 30-60 minutes (PT said keep at it but only mentioned 45. the 60 was once).
Still the occasional "itch" around the old spots and massaging, I get the feeling of "hot spots" in the quads.
I've been good with core work - and stretching: some poses I have really made progress from being very tight&short.

Also I hurt my shoulder swimming (i think; ah what am I saying, of course I overdid that as well.) and I am inching my way back into using it.
Back's much better.

It suddenly occurred to me that I might not be eating enough protein. So the repair functions might just be slower than they could be.
some days are almost entirely protein free. I don't want to eat the low-quality cafeteria meat and I don't want to buy lots of meat. I do buy a nice (preferably organic) steak maybe once a week.
I also want to eat as little fish as I can for ecological reasons.
But otherwise its's a bit of milk or yoghurt with cereal, a bit more milk in my coffee and maybe a joghurt for a snack.
and I should be getting 1.5 grams/kg/day... right?

So Saturday's shopping list included whey powder, and omega 3 capsules (some ladies suggested it may help against inflammation?). Still need to find a branched chain amino acid supplement.
What shocked me is that the supermarket sells 2 kinds of whey: one actually contains 85% protein, that's ok (but it contains artificial sweetener) - the other contains only 15% protein and a whopping 90% carbs!

What a ripoff!!! Good thing I read the label!

[Jolt]

Glad to hear you're improving, even if it's more slowly than you'd like. As for the protein, that makes a lot of sense as a factor that might be affecting things (and it's something I need to be better about too, probably hasn't helped my situation either). I was at Trader Joe's the other day and thought about getting some whey protein powder but I just am not sure how good it is to use something so processed, even if it's not loaded with artificial ingredients, so I think I will just try to pay more attention to eating enough high-protein whole foods. 30-60 minutes of running is pretty good; I'm not up to that yet. Partly because I haven't been running as consistently lately; I have been taking advantage of the snowfall here (we're getting more as we speak) and going snowshoeing whenever I can and I think that may end up helping because it seems to work the hip muscles that need work in my case. Skating seems to be good too and I may try to add some of that to my routine as well. If you have areas that need strengthening, is there any cross-training you can do that will help?

[michelem]

Good for you for keeping at the PT and adhering to the recommendations (I don't think that one 60 min. run qualifies as disobeying!).

There's a thread going on right now in the nutrition forum about getting more protein without meat. You might want to check it out for some more ideas.

[alpinerabbit]

I don't know. Yet.
The PT said she'd do manual work one more session, then look with me at things I can do for strengthening.

I do swim... but I haven't seen the inside of a gym for years. I'm not very keen on it, I find it boring. maybe some theraband stuff she can show me.

[alpinerabbit]

So today was my first "training" PT session.

She made me do lunges while concentrating on my core. Tricky business for someone who's not very coordinated - she also made me warm up on a trampoline.

NEways, I had to do 5x10 on each side and on the last ten my right thigh was on fire. So it's a load weaker than the left.

fun.

[tulip]

Interesting thread, Alpine. There are lots of ways of getting more protein even if you don't eat meat. Personally, I do eat meat (all kinds except pork, I don't like pork), but I buy from local farms.

Beans (all sorts) and rice (or other grains), eggs, yogurt, etc. are all good. I prefer to eat whole foods rather than processed (like protein powders) if I can, but it all depends on what is available to you.

Does Swiss chocolate count??

[alpinerabbit]

Hi Tulip ! I do eat meat, just not all the time. Tonight's indian lentils, rice, veggies.


It's been an interesting trip so far.

I'm wondering to what extent pain is just a part of an aspiring distance runner's life. I don't mean searing, limping, screaming pain and I don't mind a hard workout. I mean the little twinges, tweaks and itches - with me, they come and go, never for long but always at one or a couple out of a choice of known spots.

is this just the way it is and I need to learn how far I can go (and do that slowly) and how to manage them? Have I been too much of a scaredycat? (rabbit, I mean.)

[alpinerabbit]

Soooo...

after that first time of doing lunges, I had the most horrid DOMS (oh how sophisticated sounding!! sore muscles anyway) in my right rectus femoris (read outside quad) and both sides of my butt (gluteus medius).
So quite obviously, the rectus is the weak spot, overloading the other leg muscles. Looks like I had a reason for having all the trouble on the same leg. At least we're getting some results here.

I went running one time since, and had a twinge around the outside of the knee and nearly freaked about getting ITBS.
I also had sore, hot lumps in my right quad.

Another PT session, she finished off with stroking out the thigh after the exercise; the day after it really hurt down there and it was swollen - SHOCK! And cycling season approaching? If this kills my season I will be so pissed off at myself, so I'd rather give up the whole idea of triathlon, period, and stick to cycling. After all I also screwed up the shoulder so maybe this just isn't my sport? and so on and so forth ad nauseam...

By yesterday I was bored, way too cold for any biking, so I did my lunges and stretching and rolling in the morning. By lunch, bored out of my freaking mind, I did go for another run, I thought heck, even if this will be the last time I ever run.

8.5 K, took me over a freaking hour, but I was just peachy. Another bit of stretching afterwards.

This morning, nothing. No pain.

So I'm not giving up, but maybe reducing to 2 times a week but longer. Jeez, this is really getting epic.

[Jolt]

Yikes, sorry to hear things are rough! I wouldn't worry too much about the DOMS when you've just started something new. That is a normal thing that happens (I've been having it lately myself, having recently started doing some strength training and experimenting with running barefoot) and should decrease after a few times of doing the new workout. Definitely keep working on those knots; that twinge around the outside of the knee could well have been from one in the vastus lateralis rather than an ITB problem and if your quads have been having issues it's pretty likely. Keep an eye on that though (and make sure you don't have a trigger point in the TFL on that side--that can make it tight which of course makes the ITB tight)--IT band syndrome is a bummer. Good luck and keep us posted.

[alpinerabbit]

Yes thanks - as I was writing humorously, it might not have gotten across that I'm pretty sure it's not ITBS, but at the moment I felt it I freaked.

I'm keeping the TFL in mind when stretching and massaging*, and I actually appreciated the sore muscles I get from that exercise. It means something's happening and it pointed to the muscle that is weak, so that's a good thing in my view.

Today I'm really, really good and the mood is far away from the "panic" range of the color scale.


*it's hard to get at but the massage ball is doing the trick

[Jolt]

Yes thanks - as I was writing humorously, it might not have gotten across that I'm pretty sure it's not ITBS, but at the moment I felt it I freaked.

I'm keeping the TFL in mind when stretching and massaging*, and I actually appreciated the sore muscles I get from that exercise. It means something's happening and it pointed to the muscle that is weak, so that's a good thing in my view.

Today I'm really, really good and the mood is far away from the "panic" range of the color scale.


*it's hard to get at but the massage ball is doing the trick

Glad to hear today is better. I know what you mean about appreciating the sore muscles--it means the exercise is working! And I agree about the TFL being an awkward spot to massage; I use a firm rubber ball (smaller than a tennis ball) on the floor and that works pretty well.

[eclectic]

Wow alpine! I haven't been on for awhile - you certainly are having a time of it. Glad to see you are making some progress. Don't give up on tris yet. Heal, strengthen and condition slowly w/ sense and you will be back at it.

Sorry to hear about your shoulder
When you swim do you x-train strokes or just do freestyle?
The majority of what we do is freestyle but it is mixed up w/ full IM strokes. I have found that has helped me keep all my joints and muscles in balance also I can do backstroke and butterfly a lot better than when I first started

- Have to share this story - one of my students came w/ a support on his foot (whatever they are called as they don't cast any more) He had cracked some bones in his foot. I asked him what he had done. It was a swimming injury. Like he said "I am doing the lowest impact and totally non-contact of all sports and I break my foot" Apparently he was coming into the wall fast, missed the turn and broke it on impact and push off. Go figure . . .

[alpinerabbit]

Wow. what crappy luck :-(

I do all strokes in guided practice, and mostly freestyle on my own with some breast. I think I simply overdid it, although I think attempts at fly might have contributed to the strain. I also think my backstroke is not up to par (catch and push phase).

[Dogmama]

Rabbits, for what it's worth - lunges will cause major DOMS at first. Everybody complains about it. With your history, I would suggest that you be very careful about lunging correcting - be sure your knee is tracking directly over your foot (not side to side) and try to keep your knee behind your toes at your lowest position.

[alpinerabbit]

@Dogmama, I'm aware of that, side-to-side is no problem; the knee over the foot thing I'm looking out for.

So I had another appt. with the doctor and she prescribed me another round of PT (9 sessions - I'm paying myself anyway), to get some more exercises but also to get more deep massage work.

I sat on the trainer for the first time this year tonight and I also noticed a difference in strength doing one-leg drills. Wonder if I should just do that more on the right side than the left.

I've run 3x last week and I feel pretty good. have to keep at the rolling&balling - think this will be my fate from now on?